Could God the Father have died instead of Jesus Christ? Jimmy Akin explores the complex question of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Discover why the specific roles of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were essential in God’s plan for salvation. Learn about the theological implications of this profound mystery.
Transcript:
God the Father gives his son Jesus Christ to die. But Jesus Christ says, there is no greater love than this to lay down one’s life, one’s friend. Wouldn’t it have been nicer for God the Father to die instead of Jesus Christ?
Okay, well, for that to happen, God, the Father would’ve needed to become a human the way that Jesus did. He would’ve needed to take on a human nature. And God could do that because he proved a divine person can take on a human nature because the Son did that by incarnating as Jesus. And if the Son can do something, well, God, the Father’s just as omnipotent as God the Son. So he could do the same thing too. So the question would be, would it be appropriate for the Father to do this? Now, I think people could have different opinions on that. I think that some people would argue that it’s more appropriate. It’s not say God couldn’t do it, but I think some people would say it’s more appropriate for the Father to let the Son do this particular task. And I can think of two reasons for that.
One reason is that whenever something happens, whenever God does something in the world, all three persons of the Trinity cooperate in doing it. And so the Father receives the son’s sacrifice on the cross. The Son sacrifices himself on the cross, and the Holy Spirit applies the fruits of that sacrifice to us. So all three of ’em have a role. Well, if the Father took the son’s role, then one possibility would be it would leave the Son with nothing to do. And that’s contrary to the principle of all three persons having a role that they each play. You could, and this is the second thing that occurs to me, you could say, well, what if the Father and the Son swapped roles so that the Son received the sacrifice of the Father on the cross, and then the Holy Spirit applied the fruits of that sacrifice to us?
Well again, that’s possible, but it seems to me that people might say that’s not fitting because the Father comes before the Son in the order of persons. And it makes more sense for the first of the divine persons to receive the sacrifice of a subsequent divine person rather than having a subsequent divine person receive the sacrifice of the first of the divine persons. And so I think that even though it’s hypothetically possible, I think there are reasons why some folks would argue that it’s more fitting for God to do it the way that he did do it.